The Souls games are known for their difficulty and many players simply don’t get to finish the games. In a new interview, Elden Ring‘s Director Hidetaka Miyazaki has said he thinks more players will be able to complete the latest title simply because it has new options that makes the game a more accessible title.
Will Elden Ring be difficult?
Miyazaki told PlayStation Blog that they “don’t try to force difficulty or make things hard for the sake of it”. Elden Ring will still encourage players to study their enemies, form a strategy that works and learn from their mistakes, but they don’t want players to think it is “unfairly punishing”. As such, they’ve introduced some new options into the game to make it more accessible. Miyazaki explains more:
In Elden Ring, we have not intentionally tried to lower the game’s difficulty, but I think more players will finish it this time. […] The player’s level of freedom to progress through the world or return to a challenge later are all elements that I feel will help people get through the game at a more leisurely pace. Also, there isn’t a focus on pure action. The player has more agency to dictate their approach against, for example, the field bosses in the overworld and how they utilize stealth in various situations. We’ve even reduced the number of hoops that you have to jump through to enjoy it in multiplayer. So we hope the players embrace that idea of receiving help from others. And we feel like the overall clear rate will go up this time because of these things.
Those wanting more of a challenge can make use of New Game + mode or go for more of the game’s multiple endings. The game is impossible to complete 100% in one playthrough due to the multiple paths that can be taken towards the end of the game and the main route is expected to take players around 30 hours to beat.
In other news, Iron Galaxy’s brawler royale Rumbleverse has been delayed so the team can perfect the experience of landing elbow drops from the top of skyscrapers. Elsewhere, Gotham Knights and Hogwarts Legacy will both launch in 2022 according to WarnerMedia’s CEO.
